Chart Notes: 'Matchbox' from the 'Something New' album on Capitol falls out of the Top Ten from #9 last week at WAVA but debuts in the Top Ten at #6 at WINX, the very spot on the same station that 'And I Love Her' re-charted for one week last week but which now drops out of the Top Ten.

Lennon & McCartney's song writing credit with 'From A Window', the third consecutive hit written by them for Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas, moves from #7 - #5 at WHMC.

Today in WPGC History - October 3rd, 1964

Unlike many of his contemporaries, Roy Orbison was able to withstand the onslaught of the British Invasion, both at home and abroad. In fact, in a 68 week period beginning in August, 1963, he was the only American artist to have a number one single in Britain. His association with English acts had begun that year when he toured with the Beatles in Glasgow. Ostensibly, he was to have been the headliner. But when he saw the amount of advertising for the quartet, he knew they were, despite having never heard of them before. Wondering out loud, 'What's a Beatle anyway', John, after tapping him on the shoulder said, 'I am'. Ironically, many years after the fact, Roy would join George in the Traveling Wilburys. Read more on 'The Big O'.

1964 saw his biggest hit ever when, 'Oh, Pretty Woman' was released (as 'Roy Orbison and the Candy Men'). The song would go on to sell an extraordinary 7 million copies and mark the high point of his career. Inspired by his wife Claudette who was leaving to go shopping and Roy asking her if she had any money, his song writing partner, Bill Dees commented, 'A pretty woman never needs any money'. Forty minutes later, the song was finished and would hit #1 on both sides of the Atlantic. Characterized by a growl he saw in a Bob Hope movie and the epithet 'mercy' Orbison uttered when he was unable to hit a note, it was certified Gold within months. It also spent its third of four consecutive weeks at #1 on the WPGC Super Hit survey today in 1964.

The enduring appeal of the song was obvious in 1982 when Van Halen covered the track and again in 1990 when it served as the inspiration for the title of the Richard Gere and Julia Roberts film named after it. Just the year before, it also gained notoriety when 2 Live Crew did a parody of the tune and sampled the bass line from the original without permission. A court case ensued which went all the way to the US Supreme Court which ruled the Fair Use doctrine extended to parodies even for profit. As for the version by Orbison, it won a Grammy Hall of Fame award in 1999, and was selected by the Library of Congress in 2012 for preservation in the National Recording Registry. Roy himself won a posthumous Grammy in 1991 for his live version of the song from his HBO special, 'Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night'.

 

09/26/64

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10/10/64

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